Rocket projectile



Jan. 17, 1950 G. J. KEssENlcH ROCKET PROJECTILE Filed Feb. 14, 1944 :bwa/WKN Gregory d- KE55Enich UNH.

www

nieof any royalty thereon.

Patented Jan. 17, 1950 mais@ ROCKET PBOJECTILE Glem?! 3. Kessenich, Madkomwls.

Applicata rebmm ie. i944, serai No. 522,292 2 cnam. (ci. roc-4s) (Granted under the act of March 3, i883 as amended April 30,

The invention described herein may be mamifactured and used by or for the Government for governmental purposes without the payment to This invention relates to a projectile for a ilrearm and particularly to a rocket projectile capable of carrying a large charge of explosive or inflammable substance.

Modern warfare has demonstrated the nee for a weapon of great destructive properties which may be transported and operated by an individual soldier. This is particularly true of infantrymen who must oppose tanks or other armored vehicles. One eiective manner of oo nlbatting such vehicles has been the use of the so called Molotov cocktail which comprises a container of gasoline or other iniammable material thrown at the armored vehicles from close range. The container breaks upon contact with the vehicle, a primer is discharged by the impact and the burning liquid is sprayed over the exterior of the armored vehicle. The disadvantage oi the Molotov cocktail is, of course, the fact that the throwing must be done from very close range and hence the thrower must place himself in a very dangerous position. Besides the relatively large quantity of the fluid which must be thrown precludes the use by the individual soldier of shells loaded with such iluid instead of the usual explosive charge. The size of the gun 'required to re such shells even at short range would-be impossible for one man to transport. .l

Riile grenades have heretofore been used with effectiveness but whether projected by gases from a blank cartridge or by-passed gases from a live round, their range is not great especially where the grenade is of some weight. Further, maxi mum range has only been obtained by high angle ring and as a consequence of the inherent inaccuracy the rifle grenade was not suited for ring at high speed targets. Attempts to increase the weight of the riiie grenade have resulted in decreased range, ballistic inaccuracy and in causing damage and breakage of the riies.

With a view to obviating these disadvantages it is proposed in this invention to provide an improved projectile having great destructive properties which may be launched as a rocket from a projector capable of being transported and iired by an individual soldier. The projectile may be initially launched as a rocket or it may receive initial impulsion by a mechanical source or by the gases passing through the bore of a ilrearm the initial impulsion means being utilized to ignite the rocket charge. A low trajectory projectlle is thus obtained which will present more favorable angles of impact and which will permit eye-aiming of a shoulder piece at a rapidly moving target.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention .tov-provide an improved projectile carrying a relatively large quantity of explosive or volatile charge. yet which may be red by one man in a light weight gun capable of being transported by one man.

A further object is to provide a rocket projectile which is so arranged that different types of containers carrying different contents may be readily attached to the rocket body. For example, the contents may consist of an explosive, gas, incendiary, message, or solid or liquid food.

The specific nature of the invention as well as other objects and advantages thereof will clearly appear from a description of a preferred embodiment as shown in the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a rocket projectile embodying this invention.

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of a rocket pro jectile, partly in longitudinal section, showing an alternate form of construction. i

Fig. y3 is a top elevational view of Fig. 2.

in Fig. l there is shown in assembled relation a rocket projectile embodying this invention. The projectile comprises a hollow metallic body i on the rear end of which are secured a plurality of fins 2 which serve to stabilize the projectile in flight. The forward portion of the body i is threaded to engage in an adapter t having a central wall i3. A chargecontainer d is threaded into the forward end of adapter t. Charge container d is shaped very much like a bottle, having a base 5 and a neck 6. The bottom portion of the periphery of the bottle t ls provided With threads which engage the threads in the forward portion of adapter 3. Bottle may be constructed from glass or any irangible plastic, the main requirement being that it will shatter upon impact with the target. The in terior of bottle d is preferably lled with a volatile liquid charge l0 such as gasoline but it should be understood that any explosive or volatile charge might be used equally as well depending upon the eiect on the target desired. A cap l is provided which screws onto neck 6 of bottle d. A washer is inserted between the base of cap 'l and the end of neck and provides an adequate seal to prevent leakage of the charge It. A percussion cap S is suitably mounted and sealed in the central portion of washer 8 and projects forwardly beyond washer l. The central portion II oi' cap 'I adjacent percussion cap 0 is of relatively thin cross section and projects beyond the remainder of cap I so that upon impact with the target the central portion II o! cap 1 will flex rearwardly and strike a hammer-like blow to percussion cap 40, thus serving to ignite the charge Il. 4

A. modified arrangement. for mounting the frangible container on the projectile is illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3. Here the adapter 3 has a forwardly projecting hollow cylindrical portion Il integrally formed therewith. In the chamber deilned by such portion a frangible container I illled with -a volatile liquid charge III is inserted and held therein by a plurality of spring tabs 23 mounted on the end of portion I8. The container I9 may be similar to the container 4 of Fig. 1 and have'an impact fuse closure cap 1, or container I9 may constitute merely a glass bottle or a light gauge metal can with a stopper 24.

Blocks I2 of heat insulating material are mounted on each side of wall I3 of adapter 3. The interior space of body I immediately to Atherear of wall I3 is utilized as a propulsion motor chamber. The arrangement of the propellant charge in the motor chamber may take any of various well known forms and should be understood to be independent of this invention. In the illustrated construction a powder charge I4 comprising a compacted mass of powder grains is pressed into the hollow body portion I. preferably around a long conical arbor (not shown) so as to denne a propelling force of the projector. The propellant;

charge I4 is ignited by an ignition charge 20 of black powder contained within a cup 2i mounted in the end of nozzle I1. A percussion primer 22 is provided to ignite the ignition charge 20. Ai'ter ignition of the propellant charge I4, the gas pressure developed blows cup 2| out of nozzle I1.

To launch this improved projectile only a hollowv tube (not shown) open at both ends plus some conventional form of firing mechanism to strike or ignite primer 22 is required.- The hollow tube is utilized to aim the rocket projectile, and since l it is open at both endsthere will be little, if any, recoil force exerted upon the tube and hence the tube may be readily held and ilred by one man..

Upon striking the primer 22 a hammer-like blow with any conventional form of hammer mechanism the small explosion of the primer flashes into the propellant charge I4, igniting such charge. The gases developed by the charge I4 Name Date 39,636 Felt v Aug. 25, 1863 785,644 Unge Mar. 21, 1905 1,502,400 Salford a July 22, 1924 FOREIGN PATENTS gn Number Country Date 305,160 Germany Mar. 3, 1920 840,391 France J'an. 16, 1939 `readily blow o ut the primer 22 and by the action of the nozzle I'I form a gas blast. The reaction force of the gas blast on the projectile starts it moving at a high velocity, launching it from the tube. Its night is maintained stable by the uns 2. Upon strik-ing the target, with a charge container shown in Fig. 1, the thin portion II of the cap 1 strikes the primer 8, which in turn ignltes `the volatile charge I0 within the bottle 4. This ignition takes place at about the same instant that the bottle 4 breaks due to the impact on the target. As. a result the burning liquid will be `sprayed over the target, operating in the same manner asa Molotov cocktail but permitting the soldier `iiring the projectile to remain in a much safer position several hundred yards away from' the target. If a charge container I8 as illustrated in Fig. 2 is utilized then volatile liquid will be sprayed over `the target and will ignite upon contact with any hot parts thereof.

If it is desired the charge carried by the bottle 4 be of the highly explosive type, then it is preferred that the bottle 4 be constructed oi' metal which will not break upon impact with the target and hence will increase the eil'ect of the explosive charge. Obviously, the container 4 if made of suillcient strength could be utilized to transport food or other supplies to a remote position. The.

construction permits the ready substitution oi. any type of pay load" by insertion of a container lled with the desired load into the adapter I.

I claim: l

l. A rocket projectile comprising a hollow body portion arranged to receive a propellant charge, a'hollow cylindrical adapter having a solid web portion intermediatevits ends, one end of said adapter being threadably secured to said body portion, a frangible container slidably insertable in the other end of said adapter, said container arranged to receive a volatile liquid charge, and a plurality of spring clips on said adapter arranged to resiliently secure said container within said adapter.

2. A rocket projectile as in claim 1 andan impact fuse mounted on said container.

GREGORY J. KESSENICH.

REFERENCES CITED Thetfollowing references are of record in the fille of this paten-t:

y UNITED STATES vPATENTS Number 

